Triumph Unveils Moto2 Bike, Fueling Daytona 765 Speculation

Triumph Motorcycles hosted a number of Moto2 riders at its factory Wednesday for the unveiling of the company’s final Moto2 engine development bike – a move that is sure to bring to a fever pitch speculation on a future Daytona model.

Regular readers of TMO will know I have almost no interest in racing, but I rode 150 miles north to Triumph HQ Wednesday because, well, I was invited to come, and I like Triumphs. Additionally, this feels like a pretty historic moment on the British company’s part. Starting in the 2019 season, Triumph will be the official engine supplier for Moto2 racing, supplying a dedicated race-tuned 765cc inline triple engine based on the powerplant from the current Triumph Street Triple.

Moto2 riders Luca Marini, Sam Lowes, Danny Kent, Isaac Viñales, Bo Bendsneyder and Joe Roberts, as well as British Moto3 rider John McPhee were all in attendance to pull the cover off Triumph’s prototype bike as well as take in a factory tour. I had no idea who they were.

Moto2 riders visit the Triumph factory in Hinckley, England

The bike will make an appearance at Silverstone this weekend just before Sunday’s British Grand Prix race. Triumph says multi-time World Superbike champion James Toseland (again, no clue) will ride Triumph’s final engine prototype bike on a parade lap. Thereafter, every Triumph representative in attendance will probably find him- or herself fielding fan questions about the likelihood of a new Daytona model.

The 675 Daytona sportbike was dropped from Triumph’s lineup last year, when the Street Triple’s 675cc engine was replaced by the aforementioned 765cc powerplant. I bothered to pose the obvious question to a number of folks, all of whom either smiled politely or said non-committal things like, “Well, there does seem to be a gap in the lineup.”

So, add the Daytona 765 to the list of things we might see unveiled at Intermot or EICMA this year.

In the immediate future, however, it is simply the engine that is relevant. The various racing teams of Moto2 will be pairing it to their own frames and chassis set-ups. Triumph spent the summer working out its final tweaks on the engine and says it will have a positive effect on Moto2 racing.

“Next year will be much closer to MotoGP levels of technology than Moto2 has ever been,” said Triumph Chief Product Officer Steve Sargent. “The class is going to become even more interesting, with exciting racing and even more competition between team engineers to develop the best-performing package.”